The stadium opened in 1997 as Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, in honor of the recently deceased owner of the team, and the stadium site was known as Raljon from the first names of Cooke's sons – "Ralph" and "John". Notably, Cooke was able to register Raljon with the United States Postal Service as a legal alternate address for the 20785 zip code of Landover, Maryland, where the stadium is located, and went to some lengths to require media to use Raljon in datelines from the stadium. This ended when Daniel Snyder bought the Redskins from the Cooke estate, and the Redskins now give the stadium's address as Landover.[14]

A special exit, Exit 16 (Arena Drive), was built from Interstate 495, the Capital Beltway.

After Snyder's purchase, the stadium's naming rights were sold to FedEx in November 1999 for an average of $7.6 million per year. The waiting list for Redskins season tickets was reportedly over 160,000 names long. However, according to The Washington Post, Redskins ticket office employees improperly sold tickets directly to ticket brokers for several years before the practice was discovered in 2009.[15]

Although the Redskins have never sold out the entire stadium, the team has not had a game blacked out on local television since 1972 (when home game broadcasts were banned outright) because it does not count "premium club level seating" when calculating sellouts (their sellout streak dates to 1965, eight years before the new blackout rules were implemented).[16]

From 2004 to 2010 Redskins fans set the NFL regular-season home paid attendance records. In 2005 the team drew a record 716,998 fans overall. The December 30, 2007, 27–6 win against the Dallas Cowboys was the most watched game in Redskins history, with 90,910 fans in the stands to see Washington clinch a playoff spot.[17]

The stadium has five levels – the Lower Level, the Club Level, the Lower and Upper Suite Levels, and the Upper Level. The Lower, Club, and Upper Levels are all named after important figures of the Redskins, NFL, and Washington, D.C. area. The Lower Level is officially named "George Preston Marshall Lower Level", The Club is named "Joe Gibbs Club Level, and The Upper Level is called "Pete Rozelle Upper Level." The Suite Levels have 243 suite, lounge, and Owner's Club luxury boxes and 15,044 club seats.[18] After Daniel Snyder purchased the Redskins, five rows of "Dream Seats" were installed in front of what had been the first row of the lower level, extending down almost to the level of the field. Seats in the previous first row of the lower level were not tall enough to see over the players on the sidelines.

FedExField has been used for some international soccer matches — both for the United States and also for El Salvador. On March 28, 2015, Argentina defeated El Salvador at FedExField before a crowd of 53,978.[19] On June 7, 2014, the stadium hosted a doubleheader. Spain, the 2010 World Cup winner, defeated El Salvador 2–0 in a warm-up match in front of a crowd of 53,267 before the 2014 World Cup; in the other game of the doubleheader, D.C. United played Columbus Crew to a scoreless draw in D.C. United's first time hosting an MLS regular season game at FedExField.

FedExField is currently being considered as a 2026 FIFA World Cup venue. It is currently up against 16 other venues around the United States, including M&T Bank Stadium in nearby Baltimore; the final list of 10 stadiums will be decided in 2020 or 2021.[22]

Many fans feel FedExField does not compare favorably with RFK Stadium. Sports Illustrated's rankings of "NFL Fan Value Experience" rated FedExField 28th out of 31 NFL stadiums.[23] In January 2007, The Washington Post reported that Redskins owner Daniel Snyder was meeting with Washington, D.C., officials about building a new stadium in order to return the team to the District. There were also reportedly meetings with Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe.[24][25]

Problems were created when the design of the stadium was modified in an effort to maximize revenue. Over the years, "party zones" requiring paid membership (such as the Touchdown Club and Tailgate Club) have sprouted on the concourse outside the stadium.[26] Entrances adjacent to the "party zones" are no longer accessible to fans who do not purchase a "party zone" membership. Installation of "Dream Seats" are another modification of the stadium that has increased revenue. The original architect calculated the lowest possible height at which the first row could be set in order to still see the field over the players standing on the sideline. In 2005, eight years after the stadium opened, 1,488 premium "dream seats" in three rows were added in front of what was the first row when the stadium was built.[27] Because some of these seats are too low to see over the players on the sideline, occupants of these seats stand in order to see the game.[28] In the 2011 off-season, nearly 10,000 seats were removed from the upper deck to reduce capacity to around 83,000, making FedExField the second-largest venue in the NFL during the 2011 season.[4] A Redskins team official admitted that the seats were removed due to lack of demand.[29] During the 2012 offseason, 4,000 additional seats were removed to make way for new suites and party decks and the stadium's capacity dropped to 79,000.[4] The seats that were removed permit the team to continue to sell out and avoid the NFL television black-out rule. In December 2013, the Redskins set a record for the lowest announced attendance ever at FedExField with 56,247, most likely because of the team's poor record at the time and inclement weather.[30] Attendance in the 2014 season averaged less than 78,000 per game, and never rose above 81,000. On June 1, 2015, The Washington Post reported that another 4,000 to 6,000 seats, primarily in the top eight rows of the upper decks, were tarped off using chain link fencing and tarps during the 2015 off-season. Team officials said the removals were made due to "season ticket holder feedback", and declined to say how exactly many seats had been removed.[31]

The location of the stadium has made traveling to it through public transportation difficult and time-consuming. The stadium is about half a mile away from the Morgan Boulevard station, the nearest Metro station to the stadium. Furthermore, federal regulations prohibit publicly paid shuttle service from public transit agencies as long as a private service is available. Since this method is not cost effective, fans taking public transportation must walk to and from the stadium.[32] That trip usually takes as long as 20 minutes on most days.

More recently, the field had fallen under considerable criticism for the poor quality of the grass surface. In 2013, the Redskins installed Latitude 36 sod and also installed a new drainage system along the sidelines.

^Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke is seeking a special exception that would allow a $160 million National Football League stadium in an industrial zone east of Laurel in Anne Arundel County. The Redskins also hope for variances from county codes on matters such as parking and landscaping for the 78,600-seat stadium, Baltimore Sun, Aug 11, 1994